Effect of an emergency department sepsis protocol on the care of septic patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

Objective: We sought to determine whether the implementation of a sepsis protocol in a Canadian emergency department (ED) improves care for the subset of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: After implementing a sepsis protocol in our ED we used an ICU database and chart review to compare various time-dependent end points and outcomes between a historical control year and the first year after implementation. We re-viewed the charts of all patients admitted to the ICU within 24 hours of ED admission with a primary or other diagnosis of sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock, who met criteria for early goal-directed therapy within the first 6 hours of their ED stay.